EDWARD ASNER
One of the most honored actors in the
history of television, Edward Asner
has been the recipient of seven Emmy Awards and 16 nominations,
as well
as five Golden Globe Awards and served as National President of
the
Screen Actors Guild for two terms. He was inducted into the TV
Academy
Hall of Fame in 1996. Perhaps best known
for his comedic and dramatic crossover as the gruff but soft-hearted
journalist
Lou Grant, the role he originated on The
Mary
Tyler Moore Show and continued on Lou
Grant,
which earned him five Emmys and three Golden Globe Awards. Asner
received
two more Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for the mini-series Rich Man,
Poor Man
and Roots.
Asner's
dozens of motion pictures include They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, Fort
Apache
the Bronx, JFK, and the European production of Giovanni XXIII - the
highest
rated television mini-series in the history of Italian TV as well as Elf
with Will Farrell. Asner
was the lead voice of Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's 2009
box-office-hit UP!,
whichwon Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score -Motion
Picture, at the 67th Annual Golden
Globe
Awards as well as 2 Academy Awards.
Mark
Rydell is an Academy Award-nominated director, a classically trained
actor, and
an accomplished jazz pianist. He received an
Oscar nomination as Best Director for The
Rose starring Bette Midler and On
Golden Pond starring Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn and Jane
Fonda.
Rydell's commitment to the craft of filmmaking is evidenced by the twenty-six Oscar nominations garnered by his films. Bette Midler, Marsha Mason, Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn and Sissy Spacek have all received Oscar nominations under his direction, as well as Golden Globe nominations for both Stephen Rea and Isabella Rossellini.
Rydell directed more than fifty episodes of dramatic television including I Spy, Ben Casey and Gunsmoke. His first feature, The Fox won the Golden Globe Award for Best English Language Foreign Film.
Other films include The Rievers with Steve McQueen, Jeremiah Johnson with Robert Redford, and Scarecrow starring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. Scarecrow won the Cannes Film Festival's top honor - The Palme D'Or.
Rydell himself produced and directed The Cowboys starring John Wayne, Cinderella Liberty starring James Caan and Marsha Mason (who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress), and Harry and Walter Go To New York starring Elliott Gould, James Caan, Michael Caine and Diane Keaton, followed by The Rose and On Golden Pond.The director's filmography went on to include The River, starring Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson, For The Boys with Bette Midler and James Caan, Intersection starring Richard Gere and Sharon Stone, and Crime of the Century for HBO starring Stephen Rea and Isabella Rossellini, which earned five Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture.) Rydell also directed and produced TNT's critically acclaimed James Dean (2001), and Even Money, starring Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito.
Rydell heads the Los Angeles based production company, Concourse Productions, known for producing, amongst many others, The Man In The Moon (1991) starring Sam Waterston and Tess Harper, a film that also introduced the world to future Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon. Rydell is a Board Member of the Actors Studio and an Artistic Director of the Actors Studio West. He shares from his filmmaking experience at universities and seminars all over the country.
